"Ads." Addie froze at the voice, remembering last night.
She turned away from him, pushing more cornflakes into her mouth.
"I'm so so sorry."
"Go away"
"I really am so sorry" He walked around the table to try and face her.
"She told you to go away Elijah" Riley huffed from the other end of the table, clearly not forgiving his brother even if he was drunk.
Addie watched from above her cereal as he walked up the stairs with his head hung, mad at himself for hurting her.
She decided she would let him stew for a few days. She told herself you had to be cruel to be kind, but really she couldn't get the feel of his hands from her neck every time she thought of him.
She dropped her spoon, looking at her reflection in the curved metal.
"Addie?" Rileys concerned voice floated across to her.
Addie stood up, pushing her chair away from the table so hard it almost fell over, and finally she rushed from the room.
The minute she opened the door she noticed the stark white envelope settled against her desk, the colour contrasting the wood. Inspecting it further she read her name on the front, scrawled across in biro.
The back had been opened, someone having read it before her, but she didn't care, she just wanted to find out the contents.
The pencil marks inside immediately told her who wrote it.
"Dear Addie,
I miss you. I miss you when something good happens and I want to hug you and when something bad happens and you're the only one I want to tell.
Heidi misses you too, a lot. But she's only 7, I don't think she understands you're not coming back.
But I'm glad, you finally got out. You can live now, how we always wanted to. Maybe one day I'll get fostered and can come visit you or you can come visit me?
I can't write much longer, paper to America is expensive! This costs almost half my months allowance, but don't worry, I'll only do it for you.
Mrs. Old Battle-axe is calling for me so I gotta go, love you.
Thanks Addie
Don't ever forget me,
Love, Murphy and K iT tY
Addie stared at the letter, rereading it may times. She truly missed him, she did. They had been best friends since they met in foster care at 9 and had accidentally set a sofa on fire after throwing a flaming paper airplane. They had got in a lot of trouble for that.
Addie placed it down, pulling out her own piece of paper to write a response, his letter reminding her how much she missed him.
A lone tear dropped onto the page, smudging the ink and blending the words. She couldn't do this now.
She carefully folded up the paper, tucking it into the top drawer of her desk for safekeeping. Pattering across the floor, she climbed back into bed despite it only being 10am.
**********
YOU ARE READING
kindred
Teen FictionAll Adeline Kingston has known is pain. Years of agony, anguish and anger. Brothers. Addie has 7, not that she knew. When she is reunited with her older brothers her life changes. For the better or worse, no one could say. Adeline knows there are se...
